Internet Society and World Wide Web Consortium Strengthen Relationship to Help Ensure Open Global Internet

ISOC Donation to Support Evolution of W3C Organization

 

Reston, VA, USA and Geneva, Switzerland, and http://www.w3.org/ — 11 December 2009 — The Internet Society (ISOC) and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) today announced a donation from ISOC for the purpose of advancing the evolution of W3C as an organization that creates open Web standards. Citing strongly aligned views on the value of an open global Internet and support for the current Internet governance and management model, the Internet Society pledged to support W3C efforts to implement a more agile, inclusive, and flexible organizational structure.

"ISOC and W3C have worked together for years in a number of areas, and have deeply shared values about the Internet’s development," said Lynn St. Amour, President and CEO of the Internet Society. "Our support to the W3C in their transition efforts demonstrates ISOC's commitment to ensuring the Internet continues to be an open, global platform for innovation. What's at stake is the Internet's openness, which is a critical enabler of new products and services to billions of users worldwide."

The announcement reflects the two organizations' shared aim of ensuring the continued growth and accessibility of the global Internet and Web, and stewardship responsibilities to ensure they continue to benefit users worldwide.

"ISOC and W3C have a long history of cooperation and the Internet ecosystem has benefited from our shared yet independent voices," said Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director. "The W3C staff, Members, and community continue to work on making W3C more relevant and valuable to the Web and Internet communities. ISOC support will allow W3C to evolve its structure to ensure we continue to forge solid working relationships with the increasing numbers of developers and users worldwide."

The two organizations will continue to operate independently, and will maintain their long-standing, informal collaboration. ISOC's initial pledge of support is for three years, with both organizations working to ensure progress. A FAQ with additional information is available and will be updated.

About the Internet Society

The Internet Society (ISOC) is a non-profit organization founded in 1992 to provide leadership in Internet related standards, education, and policy. ISOC is the organizational home of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the Internet’s premier technical standards body. With offices in Washington, D.C., and Geneva, Switzerland, it is dedicated to ensuring the open development, evolution, and use of the Internet for the benefit of people throughout the world. For more information see http://www.isoc.org

About the World Wide Web Consortium

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international consortium where Member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop Web standards. W3C primarily pursues its mission through the creation of Web standards and guidelines designed to ensure long-term growth for the Web. Over 350 organizations are Members of the Consortium. W3C is jointly run by the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (MIT CSAIL) in the USA, the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM) headquartered in France and Keio University in Japan, and has additional Offices worldwide. For more information see http://www.w3.org/

Media Contacts

ISOC

International —

Greg Wood <[email protected]>, +1-703-439-2145

W3C

Contact Americas, Australia —

Ian Jacobs, <[email protected]>, +1.718.260.9447

Contact Europe, Africa and the Middle East —

Marie-Claire Forgue, <[email protected]>, +33 6 76 86 33 41

Contact Asia —

Naoko Ishikura, <[email protected]>, +81.466.49.1170